


a taste of home

by orphan_account



Category: Voltron: Legendary Defender
Genre: F/M, Trans Female Pidge | Katie Holt
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2016-07-20
Updated: 2016-07-20
Packaged: 2018-07-25 13:32:15
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 895
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/7534621
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/orphan_account/pseuds/orphan_account
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>Allura tries to bake a cake for Shiro. Easier said than done.</p>
            </blockquote>





	a taste of home

Baking a cake was quite a… difficult proposition. Especially when one wasn’t exactly sure what a cake _was._ Her best estimation was a sort of fluffy pastry with icing on top, and that had seemed doable enough at the time. Of course she could bake a cake for Shiro. True, she had not cooked before, but surely it couldn’t be too difficult? Hunk, Pidge, and Coran all cooked. She was sure that she could manage a simple pastry.

A third of a digitep after she started it, now standing in the kitchen covered in some sticky green substance and with powder coating both her face and the counter, Allura re-evaluated.

It had all started when she inquired of Shiro what he missed about Earth culture. “Not Earth, specifically, but of your culture. What do you miss?”

He had thought for a moment. “…The food, honestly. We can still listen to the music out here, the others brought some, but I miss Earth food.” Shiro sighed, leaning against the wall and folding his arms. “Before I was captured by the Galra, we were eating freeze-dried food. It didn’t taste… real. After the attack, I…” He frowned. “I don’t remember what we ate, but it wasn’t Earth food. I didn’t get a chance to have any when I returned home before the other paladins found me.”

Allura stepped forward, setting her hand one on of his. “Surely Hunk could make something for you?”

Shiro shook his head. “On Earth, there are many different cultures. Hunk and I aren’t from the same - I don’t think he could make my food, not properly.”

She was not to be deterred. “Surely there is something you share? If not from your culture, something simple you like?”

He hesitated - but at least he was thinking. “…It’s a tradition in many places on Earth that on the anniversary of someone’s birth, they have cake. They put little candles in it, make a wish, and blow them out. I did like that when I was younger.”

Allura… really wasn’t certain where to start with that. “What is cake? And why do you put candles in your food?” She remembered they occasionally used them on Altea, but they were ancient and usual of historical significance when burned. “Are candles edible on Earth?”

Shiro laughed at that, and it was a beautiful sight. “Cake’s like… a pastry. With icing.” At her nod, understanding the vague detail. “I guess it’s… you put candles in the cake, and make a wish. If you’re nineteen years old, you’ll put nineteen candles in. You try to blow them out, and superstition says however many blows it takes you to blow out all the candles is how many years it will take before your wish comes true. Then, you take the candles out before you eat the cake.”

The princess absorbed that for a long moment, nose wrinkling up and forehead knitting. “Shiro… that sounds like a very odd tradition.”

He laughed again, and covered her hand with his own, wistfulness for home temporarily chased away. “Yeah, it is. We should do it for your birthday.”

And now, a few digiteps later, Allura found herself filthy in the kitchen, the ingredients she had hoped to use scattered across the room. It was… It was… hopeless, and she sunk to her knees. She had simply wanted to bring that here, to hopefully coax more laughter and more smiles from him - of all the paladins, she felt Shiro needed it the most. And of all the paladins, Allura cared for Shiro the most, in the way that made her want to press him up against the wall and kiss him.

Pidge and Hunk walked into the kitchen moments before she could succumb to her despair, and their eyes went wide.

“Woah.” “Woah.”

Pidge noticed her kneeling in the disaster first. “Allura, what happened here? Are you alright?” The other girl asked, quickly darting to her side and crouching down.

Hunk followed at a more sedate pace, glancing around the kitchen with suspicion. “Is food trying to kill us again? I don’t think I could handle that. Not now!”

Allura had to huff out a laugh, accepting Pidge’s hand and allowing herself to be pulled to her feet. “No, Hunk, food is not trying to kill us again. I was…” She paused for a moment, almost wanting to save herself from the embarrassment, before sighing. “I was trying to bake a cake.” Her cheeks flushed. “For Shiro. But I am… not experience in the kitchen, and when I tried to use the device in the corner, it did not… work out well…”

She trailed off as the two paladins exchanged glances, communicating through some strange series of eyebrow motions and twists of the mouth, before they turned to her with a pair of matching grins. Instinctively, she took a step back.

“We can help you make a cake, Allura!” Pidge told her eagerly, light glinting off her glasses in a rather disconcerting fashion.

Hunk nodded. “Yeah! I haven’t gotten to try any desserts here, yet, it would be fun!”

Allura glanced between the two of them, before finally relaxing and returning their smiles. “I would… be glad if you showed me how it is done. Thank you.”

Hunk gave her a friendly swat on the back and Pidge nudged her. “What are friends for?”


End file.
